About
Berit Mortensen has been practicing midwifery since 1992. Since 1987, she has worked with international solidarity and health projects in Palestine and Lebanon, as a nurse, midwife and project manager for the organization Norwegian Aid Committee (NORWAC). Since 2006, in collaboration with Palestinian midwives, she has developed and implemented a locally adapted midwife-led continuity model of care serving rural women in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. She completed her master's degree in practical knowledge at Nord University in Bodø in 2011. The master's thesis To be Veiled or not to be, what unites is the question? Experiences from a continuity of midwifery care model in occupied Palestine and Norway, used qualitative methodology with a phenomenological-hermeneutic approach. On March 12, 2020, she defended her Phd dissertation, Making Midwifery Matter, Introduction of a Miwife-led Continuity Model of Care in Occupied Palestine, at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, based on three quantitative studies, funded by the Research Council of Norway. From 2021, she is project manager for the NORHED project Midwifery education and research development in Palestine and Ghana (MIDRED).
Research groups
Research projects
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Exploring Quality of Maternal and Newborn Care in Palestine (EqualMatPal)
This PhD project will utilize mixed methods to explore the quality of care provided to new mothers and their newborn children in Palestine
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Midwifery Research and Education Development (MIDRED)
Our main objective is to strengthen the quality and relevance of local midwifery research and education in Ghana and Palestine.
Publications and research
Scientific publications
Henriksen, Lena
;
Kisa, Sezer
;
Lukasse, Mirjam
;
Flaathen, Eva Marie
;
Mortensen, Berit
;
Karlsen, Elisabeth
;
Garnweidner-Holme, Lisa
(2021).
Cultural Sensitivity in Interventions Aiming to Reduce or Prevent Intimate Partner Violence During Pregnancy: A Scoping Review.
Trauma, Violence, & Abuse.
https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380211021788
Mortensen, Berit
; Diep, Lien My;
Lukasse, Mirjam
; Lieng, Marit; Dwekat, Ibtesam; Elias, Dalia; Fosse, Erik
(2019).
Women's satisfaction with midwife-led continuity of care: An observational study in Palestine.
BMJ Open.
Vol. 9.
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-030324
Mortensen, Berit
; Lieng, Marit; Diep, Lien My;
Lukasse, Mirjam
; Atieh, Kefaya; Fosse, Erik
(2019).
Improving Maternal and Neonatal Health by a Midwife-led Continuity Model of Care ? An Observational Study in One Governmental Hospital in Palestine.
EClinicalMedicine.
Vol. 10.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2019.04.003
Mortensen, Berit
;
Lukasse, Mirjam
; Diep, Lien My; Lieng, Marit; Abu-Awad, Amal; Suleiman, Munjid; Fosse, Erik
(2018).
Can a midwife-led continuity model improve maternal services in a low-resource setting? A non-randomised cluster intervention study in Palestine.
10 p.
BMJ Open.
Vol. 8.
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-019568
